Scott Kleeb on Abortion: “The ideal number … is zero.”

The ideal number for me as a Catholic is zero … and there are plenty of people I’d be willing to work with if they want to get down to … that ideal number which is zero.

Just below there’s a video clip (2 minutes, 11 seconds) of Scott Kleeb fielding a question in Omaha last week. (Kleeb is the Dem candidate for the Nebraska US Senate seat being vacated by Chuck Hagel.)

The guy in the audience keeps shoving the term “pro-life” at Kleeb and Kleeb jumps on it pretty hard, saying that all this putting of labels on people and stirring up arguments about terms is not helping! We’ve spent 30 years fighting about it and making political hay out of it.

And under recent Republican domination of our government, abortions have not gone down significantly, and there is evidence they have gone up.

All of us, every single one of us in this country wants to get to zero.

It’s time to actually start working on it – together.

… we can work together despite whatever differences we might have for a shared and common goal. That’s what this moment is. These moments don’t come around very often and we have to take advantage of them.

Did you notice the applause at the end? And this is at a Kiwanis club.

Here’s a transcript of the video segment. I’ve added some emphasis.

…We get so fixated on having an argument, and defining each other, as opposed to what we actually want to do. What do we want to do? All of us, every single one of us in this country wants to get to zero. And yet we become so fixated on the same discussions we’ve had for thirty years. Discussions on energy that give us higher prices, discussions on the economy which means that we ship more jobs overseas, discussions on abortion which means the number of abortions goes up, rather than down. Discussions on health care which means fewer people actually get insured.

We don’t fix anything in this country anymore. On abortion, on health care, on energy, on the economy, on the environment–whatever the issue is we don’t fix things anymore. And it’s because we focus on labels and we focus on argument. As opposed to on solutions. The reason why we don’t have trust in our political leadership is because they have pointed the finger and have blamed and every Sunday morning we see them in 30 second sound bites saying “It’s not my fault we have a financial crisis–it’s their fault.” And the other person says “It’s not my fault we have a financial crisis–it’s their fault.” Well it’s all their faults and it’s our fault for perpetuating the same conversations that we’ve had.

If we want to get past this moment right now then we have got to recognize that we can do again what my granddad believed so deeply in. And we can work together despite whatever differences we might have for a shared and common goal. That’s what this moment is. These moments don’t come around very often and we have to take advantage of them.

Good preaching, Scott!

So, by my extension and paraphrase, “Let’s quit pointing fingers and shouting labels at each other. We really could make a LOT of progress on this if parties will be willing to sit down and work on it instead of using it for political argument and electioneering.”

You know what that means? That means Scott Kleeb IS pro-life. Because he cares deeply about it AND he’s willing to work on it and not just talk about it.

A friend at church wondered recently how I could be supporting Scott Kleeb for US Senate (and previously for Congress). “Adrian (the Congressional candidate and former state Senator) is a fine Christian young man.” Connie and I answered that he may or may not be that, but Adrian Smith’s record is that he does virtually nothing.

Kleeb, with his genuine Catholic background, his profound integrity, his intelligence and incredible work ethic is the kind of person we need in office. And tere is no question that having Democrat Scott Kleeb in national office will do more to reduce abortions than “fine Christian” Republican Adrian Smith ever will.

Scott’s current opponent is also one of those [ineffective] Republican anti-abortion candidates [Mike Johanns]. If we are concerned to reduce abortions it may be time to start voting for some Democrats.